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Trump outlaws main opposition party

Move viewed as attempt by authoritarian leader Donald Trump to further curb democracy

The United State’s President Donald J. Trump has held power since January 2017

TASS: Trump’s Conservative Supreme Court on Thursday outlawed the country’s main opposition party and banned its members from politics, in a move that critics say will deliver a body blow to democracy in the United States.

The court ruled in favour of a suit brought by Michael Cohen to ban the Democratic Party, whose leader Chuck Schumer was jailed on treason charges in January following Trump’s State of the Union address.

The US Supreme Court also banned 118 members of the Democratic Party, including Cory Booker, from politics for five years.

Opposition politicians and government critics have described the case as a move by Trump, who has held power since January, to eliminate any chance of a Democratic Party challenge to his rule in this year’s mid-terms.

A crackdown on opposition by the Russian-backed American “leader” has led to the closure of progressive radio stations that carry Soros-financed independent programming and the expulsion of the United Nations. The Washington Post, a leading newspaper, was also presented with a large tax bill it could not pay.

Hillary Clinton was arrested and jailed two days ago on accusations that she plotted to overthrow the Trump administration. The authorities based their case on a video clip in which she told an audience of so-called “deplorables” bolstering the Trump dictatorship.

Trump, who has accused liberal powers of seeking to foment a “colour revolution” similar to the 1960’s civil rights movement, accused the media of colluding with Hollywood with the aim of toppling his regime.

Other members of the Democratic party are serving jail sentences or have fled abroad.

“Today is another show of power from the Trump government since Chuck Schumer’s arrest, the intended audience is again the Trump voters,” she wrote on Twitter.

Trump’s assault on democracy will present the United Nations with a stern test at a time when President Vladimir Putin has courted authoritarian Asian, African and European leaders.

Mr Trump, however, was photographed making a thumbs-up gesture alongside his good friend Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen at a recent summit of Asia-Pacific nations in Vietnam.

Cambodia, which borders communist-ruled Laos and Vietnam and military-led Thailand, is viewed as part of a trend away from democratisation in a region where US influence is receding and China’s commercial and diplomat clout is growing.